For the moment tickets sales are too low.
So, if you are intended to come to the festival : get your tickets now! Don't wait until next month or so!
We will decide on October 14th (that's already in 12 days!) if the festival takes place or not.
I am dead serious. I also will question the further existence of B-Wave as well. Most likely it will cease to exist.
If you have such a great line-up but tickets sales says people aren't interested, then this it for me. Really.
Why do we have to make a decision now? Well, within two weeks we have the first big chunk of money to pay. As a matter of fact there already were costs involved. Even with the financial support of Flanders this year, we won't make it! Read about my earlier post about the fact that B-Wave is a small non-profit organisation, not a million â‚¬ company which has its tangles deep in the media as well.

For the ones who already bought their tickets: THANKS for your support and don't worry, I will refund everyone. I will get in touch with you if the festival won't take place !_________________http://www.b-wave.be

Problems for E-Live too according to Boots, far too few tickets having been sold so far.

Indeed.

As one of the musicians appearing there I can say it's rather bitter to invest (really!) a lot of time and effort (and actually money) into concert preparations, and then only a handful of people attend (thanks to everyone who does, of course! ).

Not that I mind playing to five, or ten, or twenty people - I did that many times, and it always had been nice. But those where usually events with a much smaller amount of preparation, logistics and travel (in fact, we don't only need to travel from where we live to Oirschot, but also to get together for rehearsals.)

And I'm sure it's the same (or even more) for all the other acts as well.

Maybe the number of concerts need to be reduced a bit.
For NL & Belgium I could imagine in the spring E-Day in the Eindhoven area and in the autumn B-Wave in the Zolder area. Now E-Live and B-wave are competing for the visitors.

Playing devil's advocate... does the lack of interest not simply mean very few people are actually interested in these type of events? It may sound harsh, but if you don't attract enough people, the concept is perhaps not viable. As simple as that.

I'm a huge fan of electronic music for most of my life. But if I have the choice I'd rather go and see a good band than some guy sitting behind his laptop/modular synth.

I will attend the Schmoelling concert in Oirschot later this year though.

Last edited by VCO1 on Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

I agree. To be honest I ordered tickets for E-live mainly for Kebu. Unfortunately he had to cancel all his shows, so also E-live, due to personal circumstances. The current total line-up is imho not that exiting. I would have some serious considerations to go the the festival with the current line-up.

Being an old fart, I do remember most of the KLEM dagen back in the 1990s. They were the only attraction of the year, and they were eagerly awaited, and there always were fabulous acts on stage. And even when the acts on the bill were not my main reason to attend, there was plenty of great things going on elsewhere.

Maybe three major festivals a year (B-Wave, Electronic Circus, E-Live) might yield more results than a dozen of small and not-so-well-attended ones? Maybe people are a tad tired of yet another weekend spent somewhere else? I for one can do without major names (although there are some people I would love to see live on stage), I am more after unusual acts that are not that often seen on stage.

But that's only me, of course. I might be wrong.

Stephen_________________"The things you own end up owning you." (Tyler Durden -- Fight Club)

Being an old fart, I do remember most of the KLEM dagen back in the 1990s. They were the only attraction of the year, and they were eagerly awaited, and there always were fabulous acts on stage. And even when the acts on the bill were not my main reason to attend, there was plenty of great things going on elsewhere.

Totally agree!

« dronescape » wrote:

Maybe people are a tad tired of yet another weekend spent somewhere else?

Speaking for myself, yes. That's one of the reasons. That, and the fact that EM concerts generally are not that interesting. Although it is possible of course... Still remembering Ashra, Ciani, Gandalf and of course Dyson @KLEM and Loom @E-something. True performers.

It's not always just the music - being with a group of other like-minded people, particularly when we are a far-flung and thinly spread group, is part of the fun. The forthcoming Awakenings all-dayer is a good example The team and musicians put in a lot of effort, but there must be something special to attract us to an old sports pavilion in Rugely on a Saturday night!

This has been debated before, that the live EM scene is shrinking and it's not like the old days, but face facts, unless you bring in a new group of listeners, any fan base will shrink, and so will the event-going sub-group. As a percentage of the fan base, I suspect there are more of us going to live music events than fans of "traditional" music, or even main stream activities such as football. How many Man U fans are there, and what percentage actually go to games? I bet it is a much smaller number than the percentage of fans who will (hopefully) see the musicians they enjoy at B-Wave.

Whenever I see these emails from the organisers I feel sorry for them and the musicians, but also get slightly annoyed that we, the fan base, is being told off that we should be coming to the events or we will loose them, and it's our fault. Sorry, but that is not how you get bums on seats. It's a big effort to travel to these events, which for most of the fans are long distances away (even in another country), on a Saturday night when The Boss has to be left by herself, to a venue that is not always comfortable (despite the best efforts of the host).

I appreciate that organisers are in a Catch-22, that the big names who attract the audience want a fee, which the organisers cannot afford as numbers are too small, and falling, while prices continue to rise. Smaller bands work for the love of it, but the audience numbers are too few to pay for the venue...etc.

I can see these concerts getting less regular, with perhaps one big name and some less popular artists to make up the numbers, and that will keep the audiences coming.....I hope. Even the Hampshire Jams, which regularly had several big names playing, eventually got less popular, despite being absolutely an excellent day out (apart from the Fish and Chips, which was aweful but a ritual!)._________________daniel

Organizing one major event per year per organiser perhaps helps to save up the funds required to get some major names on the bill.

The idea of organizing smaller venues in between to fill the gap apparently burns funds rather raises them so maybe this is a waste of time, energy, and effort.

There is that German saying that competitors liven up competition but that is only valid to a certain extent, I'm afraid. As soon as one festival is draining the crowd from another one, things turn a bit hairy... not only for the organisers but also for the people attending.

Stephen_________________"The things you own end up owning you." (Tyler Durden -- Fight Club)